ANST - RE: ansteorra V2 #171

[claymore]

Good Gentles,

Please permit me to take a moment of your time to share a story. This story,
written by my lady Kazmiera, tells of the event called Amaral recently held
in the kingdom of Æthelmearc. I offer this to you all as I think it might
hold interest and I believe the story to be one of honor and The Dream.

In Service,

Wolfere VonKrause
Kingdom of Æthelmearc
The Incipient Shire of Hearthstone

          />"A friend in need is a friend
         //  indeed...
(///////[0]================================-
         \\  but a true friend hits you with
          \> sticks"

------------------------
Unto all of Hearthstone and the all Good Gentles in the Known World, I
bring my warmest greetings:

I have been to the great mountain of Amaral, and returned with many a
story of bravery, chivalry and honor.

The brave fighters of Hearthstone brought us all great honor.  They
fought well and hard.  Among them were Wolfere VonKrause, William Tree
Stump and Lord Magnus Jager.

We found much delight in these brave men, from the pigtails adorning
Wolfere’s head as he armored up and made ready to fight, to Jager’s
fight with his pavilion against ‘The Hill’, to William's blue armor.
They all fought well, but I must say that I have never seen William
fight as well as he did that night in the Bear Pit.

The Bear Pit was ferocious!  A circular pit of about 20’ diameter edged
with standing logs and floored with sawdust.  Duke Sir Christopher
marshaled and fighters from all of Æthelmearc and even some from the
East Kingdom came to battle it out.  There were several boughts fought
while bets were made and the coins and drinks flowed amongst the
spectators.  It was a wonder to behold!

The castle battle was vicious as the East placed siege upon us.  They
fought and fell, only to rise again, and fall yet again. But we proved
too strong for them time and again. Until in the final battle the East
Fighters were given 3 resurrections, several of Aethelmearc’s fighters,
a pair of our archers and allowed use of both sally gates. They stormed
the castle with brutal force and numbers.  It was a glorious battle!
Arrows rained in and outside the castle, they charged and flanked and
our forces were slowly beaten back until only one archer stood upon our
tower, the newly authorized William Tree Stump. He was called to yield
by the marshal of the combat as all looked on. William set down his bow,
climbed from the tower and drew his sword. He did not yield but called
for single combat with the remaining East forces. He fought well and was
able to dispatch his first adversary, who was a well trained fighter
fighting a Florentine style. He then perished facing a great man with a
great ax.

The market place was a treasure-trove of trinkets, bobbles and blades.
Vendors of food and drink, leather goods, jewelry and blades hawked
their wares to those gathered at this fine event.

There were also sanctuaries for prayer and meditation and a pirate ship
for the youngsters.  It was a truly wonderful place.

While I wandered through Amaral, I took note of all that happened.  I
was filled with a sense of wonder and joy.  So much love and honor
filled these acres and the stories
 Oh the stories!  One such story
inspired me to write a story of my own


A Story of Amaral


Once there was a man who roamed the countryside and took great pleasure
in all things, finding beauty in each and every one of them.  He
searched for something in his journeys, something he could not quite
define, but felt he would know it whence he happened upon it.  His quest
took him far and wide, across meadow and stream, mountains and plains,
until one day, a note struck his soul with such sweet music, he knew he
had found what he was looking for.  It was Love.

Once in every gentle's life, if he is truly lucky, he finds Love.  Not
just an everyday love, or the love of parent to child, or even that of
friends, but True Love.  Unconditional and everlasting.  The kind of
love that dreams are made of and with its magic, anything can happen.

So this good gentle and his new Love found happiness in each other.
They vowed to live out life to its fullest extent.  They dreamed and
loved and roamed the countryside together.  They lived happily for quite
some time, until tragically the good gentle lost his Love forever.  He
cried, and the tears fell like rain to the earth, and his sobs sounded
like thunder.  His anger of his loss flashed like lightning and the
earth trembled.  His sorrow lasted days.  He had lost every thing,
including his will to live.  He was lost without his Love.  He cried out
to the heavens, “Why?  Why have you taken my Love from me?”  And the
heavens answered, not in anger, but with the soft, gentle voice of
Love.  “Weep not my love, for I am here.  I am the sky above you, the
earth beneath your feet and the air you breathe.  Fear not, for I will
always be with you.  Do not let my leaving end our dreams, for in them,
our love will live on.”  And so the good gentle, at hearing these words,
took them to heart and found new meaning for life.

He left on a quest, this time knowing for what he was looking,  ‘The
Dream’.  His dream, and his Love’s dream.  Their Dream.  He found it in
the small town of Delhi, NY.  Land of such great beauty he wept at the
sight of it.  He knelt on these lands and looked to the Heavens.  He
cried out to his Love, ‘Look at what I have found!  It is our Dream!’
And the heavens shined down upon this good gentle and the land he called
Amaral.

The good gentle felt the need to be closer to his Love, and so took his
name, and the name of the land where their dream would live, and became
Geoffrey of York.  He worked hard and long to build their Dream and the
people saw his hard work and gave thanks.  The people came and listened
to Geoffrey’s tale, and found in it their own Dream.  And they all
worked hard and long to build this Dream together.

A great Castle was built, and ranges for Archery and Fencing and Sword.
A playground was build to entertain the children of the Dream.  A market
was built and taverns and pavilions for living.  It was a beautiful
place, this Amaral.  It was a place of Dreams.

And so Geoffrey of York invited the entire Known World to come and share
the Dream at Amaral, and the peoples came.  Each to find his own Dream,
each to share their Dream with others.  And the Dream grew.

The sun shone down upon the good gentles at Amaral, and whence they
looked upon it, they saw it was Geoffrey’s Love smiling down at them.
For his Dream was alive and growing.  It was the embodiment of the love
he shared with Geoffrey, and it would grow forever as their love did.
It was everlasting.  It was ‘The Dream”.

-Written by Kazimiera, inspired by the story telling of Duchess Maurya

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.